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New book features day hiking trails

PRESCOTT--Prescott receives prominent billing in the latest recreational guidebook to Northwest Wisconsin, "Headin' to the Cabin: Day Hiking Trails of Northwest Wisconsin," by Rob Bignell.

Describing more than 100 trails, the book covers nine Wisconsin counties. And while not in those nine counties, Kinnickinnic State Park near Prescott is detailed as a good excursion from neighboring St. Croix County.

"In Northwest Wisconsin, you can walk across 1.2 billion-year-old rock, dip your toes in the world's largest freshwater lake, tramp along the same routes that the first European explorers bushwhacked during the 1600s and see the fourth highest waterfall east of the Rockies," said Bignell, an avid hiker and author of the popular and critically acclaimed "Hikes with Tykes" guidebooks. "I've hiked in more than 30 states now and Northwest Wisconsin certainly ranks up there with the best."

The book separates trails by communities cabin-goers frequent. Each community entry includes at least one feature article about a great local trail, snapshot descriptions of several other area day hiking trails and a list of neighboring communities for easy cross-referencing.

"Almost all trail guidebooks for the region fall into one of two categories: they're either for backpackers making multi-day overnight trips or they cherry pick the region's 'best' trails," Bignell said. "But what if you're spending a weekend up north and don't have time to do a four- or five-day trip? Or what if you're vacationing for a week, but the only trails listed in the guidebook are all a couple of hours drive from you?"

"'Headin' to the Cabin,' in contrast, focuses on day hiking trails that you can do in under a few hours and lists multiple trails in every major recreational community."

Among the Prescott area trails listed is the Purple Trail at Kinnickinnic State Park.

"Kinnickinnic is one of those gems that even many locals know very little about," Bignell said.

The next closest communities whose trails are described in the book are Hudson, Somerset and New Richmond.

"Headin' to the Cabin" and "Hikes with Tykes" are available for purchase in paperback or as ebooks.